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Bible Dictionaries
Coal
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or COAL.—This word occurs in the Gospels only in John 18:18; John 21:9 (Gr. in both ἁνθρακιά, meaning properly ‘a brazier filled with lighted charcoal’). As a mineral, coal does not exist in Palestine except in the Wâdy Hummanâ in the Lebanon, and was mined there only during the rule of Muhammad Ali about 1834 (Thomson, The Land and the Book, 1886, iii. 193). The rendering ‘coal’ must be taken as = ‘charcoal.’ Both in ancient and in modern times, the latter substance, prepared from native timber, has been the common fuel of the East. The destruction of the forests of Palestine and Syria may be assigned as the main reason for the absence of timbered gables, and the universal prevalence, instead, of brickwork cupola roofs, and also for the wretched substitutes for fuel now employed by the natives, such as sun-dried cakes of chaff and dung, etc. The charred roots of the desert broom (rôthem, see Psalms 120:4) make an excellent fuel, and are much in demand in Cairo (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, 1889, p. 360).
The geological survey of Palestine reveals its uniformly cretaceous formation, extending from the Lebanon ranges to the plateau of Hebron. The earlier rocks of the carboniferous period, if they do exist there at all under the subsequent strata, are buried at quite inaccessible depths. Traces of carboniferous outcrop, but destitute of carbonaceous deposits, have been found in the sandstone of the southern desert and the limestone of the Wâdy Nasb.
Literature.—W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 1886, iii. 193; Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, 1889, p. 360; Conder, Tent Work in Pal. [Note: Palestine, Palestinian.] ii. 326; Hull, Mount Seir, etc., 1889, p. 194; Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 280; Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, article ‘Coal.’
P. Henderson Aitken.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Coal'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/c/coal.html. 1906-1918.
